I just got home from attending all three days of WrestleReunion and I am pretty much as exhausted and burnt out as possible. I mean as much as I love Professional Wrestling, even I have my breaking point. That being said, the majority of the weekend was a lot of fun and I met tons of great people. As for the shows, I think there was a lot more to like than to dislike. But at the same time, too much of a good thing can often feel like overkill.

To talk specifically about today's PWG show, it was a really excellent event. Pretty much every match delivered good to great performances and not one guy (or Candice) gave less than 100%. But from my perspective at least, it was tough to get as emotionally invested in to these matches as I would've liked. And I was trying my best believe me! The burnout factor is the obvious reason. But I also think PWG really loses some of it's energy and it's uniqueness when it is outside of Reseda. There's something about being front row in that little Legion Hall for a Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show that is special. Trust me, you put this card as a stand alone event back there and it's a potential show of the year contender. And I definitely look forward to watching it again on DVD in the near future.

Just a few quick opinions on the matches...

1) Taylors vs Kadillak/Famous B

(This was a quite spirited effort from all involved that only suffered from a little too much "G.M.S.I" mentality. These four tried cramming every highspot imaginable into the match and a fair amount of spots were sketchy at best. And poor Chris Kadillak...the guy absolutely KILLED IT on his first Shooting Star Cannonball at "Steen Wolf", yet hasn't been able to match it since. But it's understandable that a couple young guys like Kadillak & Famous B want to impress and show what they can do. And I'll take a bit of excess over half-assitude any day. **3/4)

2) Susumu vs Hulk

(At about the half-way point of this match, the show was already starting to feel a bit lethargic from a crowd standpoint. Sure there were polite applause and a few scattered attempts to get some appreciative chants going, but it just felt kinda forced. Thankfully the home stretch between Jimmy & BxB was rock solid and woke a few people up. Overall a good match here. ***1/4)

3) Davey Richards/Harry Smith vs The Young Bucks

(After gaining respect for each other following a tough bout the night before, it made solid sense to team up Davey & Harry here. And I don't think the match suffered at all without Eddie. The Young Bucks deserve a ton of praise for working their asses off on all three straight nights. In many ways they were the MVPs of the weekend. This also had a strong finish. My only gripe is I saw probably a dozen tag matches over the weekend, and I think they all had the same basic formula of having the babyface (in this case Davey) getting worked over extensively while trying to make the hot tag then the crazy finish with the ref losing control and all four guys going crazy with the big spots. Look, I get it. It's the BASIC formula. But I don't see why it can't be changed up occasionally. Anyway this was another ***+ match and Harry got well deserved props from the fans.)

4) Mack vs Doi

(I totally enjoyed this match and I think it was the first time on the show that the fans seemed motivated to really get involved throughout the duration. The chants of "Naruki DOI" were consistantly followed by a similarly fashioned "Willie MACK" retort and this truly felt like a fun hard-hitting PWG match-up. Even though Willie has been in some tough one-on-one wars with guys like Hero, Strong and Steen, I think this may have been his best singles performance to date. Or at least his most polished. Willie looked great out there and Doi is awesome. Kudos!)

5) The 8-person Tag

(This was pure insanity and a classic Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Random Multi-Person Wackjob Spectacle! We had everything from Boobplexes to Ballplexes to Midgets to Joey Ryan's thong to...(well, let's just stop there). This was a blast to watch and dare I say it somewhere in the **** range to boot. Good comedy, wild spots and probably the most perved out foursome in Wrestling history on one side of the ring. I'm all in!)

6) RockNES Monsters vs Cima/Ricochet

(I had high hopes for this since I am a huge RockNES guy. And I really thought the fans would eat it up. But it seemed like all the crowd momentum that was gaining from the previous couple matches was lost somewhere during intermission. This was probably the biggest win in Goodtime and Yuma's career and it felt sorta flat. It's hard to put my finger on. It was another good match, yet also another tag match with the same...basic...formula. I really think the crowd needed something different than Johnny Yuma struggling for 6 or 7 minutes to get the hot tag. And the finish seemed to come out of nowhere. But in all honesty, the work here was damn good and probably deserved better than it got)

7) Roddy Strong vs Mochizuki

(These two badasses just knocked the hell out of each other early and often. There's not a whole lot to say really. This match was STIFF (in the good sense)...the fans were pretty STIFF as well (in the not so good sense). Lotsa cringeworthy goodness that did earn some response down the stretch.)

The Main Event!!!

(if you're still reading this, I'm sure you know who was involved. I dig all 6 guys which made it rough trying to figure out a rooting interest. The match itself was crazy, going from an all-out brawl to back and forth submissions to highspots up the ying-yang! Steen was tremendous here doing his own running commentary throughout. Pac was hitting crazy shit left and right. Super Dragon grabbed a fans hat and chucked it for no reason whatsoever. Tozawa was back to reclaim his love affair with the fans by yelling at them to shut the fuck up. Even the fans who seemed largely ready for about a month of Pro Wrestling detox couldn't help but be impressed with this insanity. Still, with all that said, it was somehow missing a certain ingredient that would've put this over the top as an all-time classic. Maybe in Reseda it would've come together even better. Then again, it might all just go back to my own tired, burned out perspective. Speaking of which, I need sleep. This show should come across awesome on DVD. And I'm sure I'll have a new appreciation for it once I get a second viewing.

My thoughts on the whole weekend: Friday * Colt's Podcast was a lot of fun. Did not recognize Mikey Whipwreck at first. He looked like the crazy guy from the movie Identity. * Mick Foley did a great job with the 3 Faces of Foley Photos Op. He was into each character (specially Mankind). He had actual leather mask, which looked sick, and did some Mankind quotes for each person. * Dragon Gate show was really good... How good? Was it PWG good or better? I believe that was a question a few of us were asking ourselves after the show. And I believe our answers were all the same. It was different. The opener and main events were really good, but at the end of the show, everybody was talking about the same thing. That was how Sami Callihan power bombed AR Fox from the inside of the ring to the outside on top of a railing. It was sick. We need Callihan in PWG. * $5 Show with Colt was a lot of fun. But to be honest, it was Sunny who stole the show by showing half naked pics of The Anvil to the whole auditorium (yes... She went from row to row showing the pic). It was so random and crazy at the same time. Best quote was when Marty said, "so that's where Naty comes from." * Final Friday note - I was shocked when I saw how good FiFi the Maid looked in a bikini. It deserved a Ron Simmon's "Damn!"

Saturday * Photo Ops were nice. Miss Tessmacher looked amazing in a bikini. But I have to bow down to WrestleReunion and Charles Wright for bringing Papa Shango back to life. He looked exactly like the Papa Shango from the 90s. * VIP line up - Maryse was jaw dropping in her purple dress. But not too far away was the beautiful Molly Holly. I wish she was back in tv. I will rather take 1 Molly Holly over 10 Kelly Kellys any day. * Mike Tyson was almost 2 hours late. And the promised Photo Op with the Outlaws never happened. Thanks Tyson. * PWS Show was entertaining. The Davey/Smith match stole the show... However the biggest pop of the night went for Mascarita Dorada. At first I had my doubts about him, but he made a believer out me. He did a... Hell if I know how to describe it. It was just amazing. Fun to see the Outlaws, Vader and Sasuke again. And what the hell was that guy thinking when he got to an argument with Scott Steiner? People should know better by now. He didn't... So he got punched. Godfather won the WrestleRoyale. Did any one notice that Ken Shamrock cost Dan "The Beast" Severn the match? God, how I miss the good old days.

Sunday * Breakfast of Champions - I no showed since I was only interested in Foley. So if anybody had any notes on this, please let us know. * Kurt Russellreunion 3 - great show as always. The Taylor Boys get their 2nd win in a row... Fight Taylor Fight! Jimmy Susumu beat BxB Hulk in a great match. They received a "please come back" chants. Willie Mack beat Naruki Doi in a tough battle. Afterwards, Willie informed the crowed that he is interested in a title shot. The Young Bucks beat Davey/Smith after "More Bang for your Buck" on Davey Richards. Harry Smith received a standing ovation and a please come back chants. 8 Man Tag was a lot of fun. For the 2nd day in a row, Mascarita Dorada got a huge pop for his talents. RockNES defeated the Spiked Mohicans. I was really shocked by the outcome of this match since Ricochet & Cima were clearly a stronger and better team the Yuma & Goodtime (my opinion). In a tough brawl, Masaaki Mochizuki beat Roderick Strong. I don't recall seeing a match were Strong was beaten to this magnitude. And in the Main Event, the team of Generico, PAC, & Masato Yoshio defeated the team of Steen, Super Dragon and Tozawa. There was action everywhere. There were a few moments in the match where I thought they really hurt Super Dragon. He tooked a lot of damaged to his neck. Great to see Tozawa back. He deserved Streamers... But the Westin said that we couldn't throw them.

It was a great weekend. Thank you WrestleReunion, HighSpots, and every one else who made this show go as good as it did.

In reply to SlayJ, the good thing about doing shows in the shitty Legion Hall is, like anything with a cult following that takes place in an intimate setting, the energy bounces off the walls and creates a special atmosphere. With that said, PWG still rocked with KRR3 despite its unsexy 1pm matinee bell time and the Westin's anti-recycling, anti-streamer, and anti-dolphin policies. A group of annoying Juggalos almost fucked things up like they did last year, but thankfully they didn't return after intermission. I hope it was because they all died.

The 6 man really left a bad taste in my mouth, and trust me im usally one of the people who is happy with the shows, the match itself was really good, it really didnt have the magic that other Tozawa matches in reseda had. Last time we saw Tozawa he was in tears and couldnt even get through a promo, and the fans were so emotionally involved, I thought he was gonna get a rediculious standing ovation before and after the match, that didnt quite happen. He was wrestling like a heel which I thought was wierd, and he was probally the 3rd most over guy in the match. It just didnt feel like it was a big deal that Tozawa was in a PWG ring. Mabey if it was in reseda it would of been much better, but I really didnt like it at all.

eastbay510 wrote:The 6 man really left a bad taste in my mouth, and trust me im usally one of the people who is happy with the shows, the match itself was really good, it really didnt have the magic that other Tozawa matches in reseda had. Last time we saw Tozawa he was in tears and couldnt even get through a promo, and the fans were so emotionally involved, I thought he was gonna get a rediculious standing ovation before and after the match, that didnt quite happen. He was wrestling like a heel which I thought was wierd, and he was probally the 3rd most over guy in the match. It just didnt feel like it was a big deal that Tozawa was in a PWG ring. Mabey if it was in reseda it would of been much better, but I really didnt like it at all.

Everything about this paragraph stinks.

Any fan with half-a-brain should've assumed Tozawa's reception wouldn't be similar to him in Reseda. When the venue was announced it should've been obvious, let alone the match. He was "wrestling like a heel"? Maybe because he's not in there with a bigger guy like Hero and, instead, he's facing 3 guys his size who are definitive faces?

The reception wouldn't have been similar even if Tozawa had a 1-on-1 match. Simply because it's dumb touristy fans attending these things for the majority and the vibe is completely different than in Reseda.

eastbay510 wrote:The 6 man really left a bad taste in my mouth, and trust me im usally one of the people who is happy with the shows, the match itself was really good, it really didnt have the magic that other Tozawa matches in reseda had. Last time we saw Tozawa he was in tears and couldnt even get through a promo, and the fans were so emotionally involved, I thought he was gonna get a rediculious standing ovation before and after the match, that didnt quite happen. He was wrestling like a heel which I thought was wierd, and he was probally the 3rd most over guy in the match. It just didnt feel like it was a big deal that Tozawa was in a PWG ring. Mabey if it was in reseda it would of been much better, but I really didnt like it at all.

Everything about this paragraph stinks

Any fan with half-a-brain should've assumed Tozawa's reception wouldn't be similar to him in Reseda. When the venue was announced it should've been obvious, let alone the match. He was "wrestling like a heel"? Maybe because he's not in there with a bigger guy like Hero and, instead, he's facing 3 guys his size who are definitive faces?

The reception wouldn't have been similar even if Tozawa had a 1-on-1 match. Simply because it's dumb touristy fans attending these things for the majority and the vibe is completely different than in Reseda.

Your cool... Anyway mabey I was a fooling myself to think there would be the same vibe as reseda but to me it just didnt feel like it was a big deal that Tozawa was returning.

Awesome weekend!! Damn, I am f'kn tired. I did the whole VIP thing, which was really fun. I enjoyed the intro with Mike Lano, it was cool to hear some stories being told by "Superstart" Billy Graham & 'Judo' Gene LeBelle. The arena chicks mini-show was joke, in my opinion. The Colt Cabana Podcast w/ Whipwreck was cool, and the Q&A session with Foley & The Outlaws was interesting and funny.

Friday's Dragon Gate was amazing. I have seen some of these guys on DvD and I was really looking foward to seeing them live.. Really, really good show. As 'The Franchise' mentoned above, Callihan slamming Fox was incredible. After the Dragon Gate show, Cabana & Marty DeRosa hosted $5 wrestling. Callihan made an appearance on the mic during one of the matches. I know I was a bit wasted by this point, but that whole show was f'kn hilirious.

Saturday's convention was pretty cool. I took photos with Tessmacher & Papa Shango... Again, as the "Franchise" mentioned above, Papa Shango looked amazing. Props to Charles Wright, that dude got into character and looked a little scary. The whole VIP portion with the 16 guests was a little unoraganized, but everything got done pretty quickly. It was cool to meet Mick Foley & Vader, however the highlight for me was meeting Kevin Von Erich. That dude is one of the coolest people I have ever met, real laid-back down to earth. My only issue was people cutting in line. Security at one point stopped checking for VIP passes and was letting peeps in. I saw peeps who purchased individual stuff and yet they were in line with myself and others VIPs.The PWS show on Saturday was alright. Nothing special. Only cool thing to happen was when Scott Stiener jumped the railing and almost beat the shit out of some fan. I was seating 2 seats down from some dude who thought it would be smart to throw a cup of beer in Scott's face. The dude got scared as shit. When Scott returned back towards the ring, the dude was acting all high & mighty. A few matches later, management had that same dude escorted out and arrested. Turns out the dude got caught for stealing a mask & some dvds from the merch table. What a dumbass! Aside from that, the Davey Richards/Harry Smith match was really good. Bucks/Generico & Sasuke' was also good. I was really looking foward to Finlay's & Cabana's match, but that bombed. oOh, Mascarita Dorada is the f'kn man!! Wish I could see more of him.

The Franchise13 wrote: * Breakfast of Champions - I no showed since I was only interested in Foley. So if anybody had any notes on this, please let us know.

The breakfast was the highlight of my weekend. It was cool to get some 1-on1 time with the wrestlers in a calm enviornment. My brother and I got to sit with The Stiener Brothers. Rick told some cool stories from the past and Scott talked about his recent trip to India. They both talked about the guys they enjoyed working with and the guys that did not. Rick was the one who was more in conversation, Scott was a little 'reserved,' but he was real cool. All the others peeps at the other tables seemed to be enjoying themeselves.The PWG show was f'kn awesome!! As mentioned above, no one should have expected the same atmosphere you get in Reseda was going to be the same at the Westin. The crowd was down-right 'dull.' As for as the matches.. It's PWG. All the matches were off the hook. My personal favorites were Mack/Doi (Willie keeps moving on up), LeRae/Dorada/BBoy & Alexander -vs- Ryan/Avalon/Rosas & 316 (fun spots, and again, Dorada is amazing) and of course, the main event. Seeing Dragon, Steen & Tozawa together as team is always going to be an awesome picture in my mind.

Ray Deathray wrote:In reply to SlayJ, the good thing about doing shows in the shitty Legion Hall is, like anything with a cult following that takes place in an intimate setting, the energy bounces off the walls and creates a special atmosphere. With that said, PWG still rocked with KRR3 despite its unsexy 1pm matinee bell time and the Westin's anti-recycling, anti-streamer, and anti-dolphin policies. A group of annoying Juggalos almost fucked things up like they did last year, but thankfully they didn't return after intermission. I hope it was because they all died.

Ray Deathray wrote:In reply to SlayJ, the good thing about doing shows in the shitty Legion Hall is, like anything with a cult following that takes place in an intimate setting, the energy bounces off the walls and creates a special atmosphere. With that said, PWG still rocked with KRR3 despite its unsexy 1pm matinee bell time and the Westin's anti-recycling, anti-streamer, and anti-dolphin policies. A group of annoying Juggalos almost fucked things up like they did last year, but thankfully they didn't return after intermission. I hope it was because they all died.

The anti-streamer thing was ridiculous. As for the Juggalos, they were MUCH tamer than last year (since of course ICP wasn't in attendance). To be honest, the only thing I really noticed them doing was trying to prop Willie Mack with their little "Woo Woo" chants. It seemed harmless to me. But maybe I missed something.

Ray Deathray wrote:In reply to SlayJ, the good thing about doing shows in the shitty Legion Hall is, like anything with a cult following that takes place in an intimate setting, the energy bounces off the walls and creates a special atmosphere. With that said, PWG still rocked with KRR3 despite its unsexy 1pm matinee bell time and the Westin's anti-recycling, anti-streamer, and anti-dolphin policies. A group of annoying Juggalos almost fucked things up like they did last year, but thankfully they didn't return after intermission. I hope it was because they all died.

The anti-streamer thing was ridiculous. As for the Juggalos, they were MUCH tamer than last year (since of course ICP wasn't in attendance). To be honest, the only thing I really noticed them doing was trying to prop Willie Mack with their little "Woo Woo" chants. It seemed harmless to me. But maybe I missed something.

They were chanting "Family!" at Willie Mack, and Mack looked and smiled at them so I think they were family.

so apparently attendance was down compared to last year and issues from Westin staff, so right now it might be possible for no WrestleReunion in LA next year, hopefully something works out for next year